


Exceeding Expectations

by aceschwarz222



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, tony stark is a dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-10-14 06:26:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10530777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aceschwarz222/pseuds/aceschwarz222
Summary: Prompt request: So... Can I for an imagine Tony x Reader? the reader is Tony's daughter (adopted) but she isn't smart like him and she gets really sad and stressed because she knows that another person deserves all she has?





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing Tony Stark, so feedback is definitely appreciated!

They say you can’t choose your family. For 16-year old Y/N Stark, that wasn’t the case. Not only did you choose you family, you hit the jackpot. Tony Stark wasn’t just any father. He was freaking Iron Man! He was a genius, billionaire, and philanthropist all rolled into one super suit (he was also a bit of a playboy, but he did a decent job of keeping that under wraps around you). Most importantly, he was an amazing father. 

He had met you when he visited your group home to raise money for foster organizations. While Tony was one to love the limelight, he also had his low-key moments. He had walked up to you while you were reading and asked you about your book. You two talked for almost an hour, and a week later, you became his foster daughter. Your life did a complete 180. You went from sharing a room with three other girls to having a private bedroom with a bathroom attached. No matter how late Tony stayed out at his various charity and gala functions, he always made it a point to come into your room to kiss you goodnight, even if you was already asleep. You wanted for nothing, and for the first time in a long time, you felt loved.

When he asked if you would consider being part of the Stark family after the six month trial period, you couldn’t say yes fast enough. You thought it was everything you ever wanted.

But being Tony Stark’s daughter came with expectations. Even though you weren’t biologically his, everyone expected you to be smart like him, witty like him, basically like him. And it became crystal clear that once the adoption papers were signed, you were nothing like Tony.

You were painfully shy. After their first encounter at the group home, it had taken almost two weeks before you would have a complete conversation with him. You preferred to hide in a corner and read your books when he tried to take you to his charity events. And your math skills? Let’s just say you had to work extremely hard to pull Cs in her high school math classes.

“Aren’t you Tony Stark’s daughter?” her teachers would ask. “Shouldn’t you be good at math?”

You had wanted nothing more in her life than to be adopted. You wanted a family to call her own. But the pressure of being Tony Stark’s daughter was immense, and you weren’t sure how much longer you could handle it.

You walked through the front door with a sigh. Mr. Bane, your sadistic math teacher, had assigned almost twenty homework problems, and you knew you were going to be up all night trying to muddle your way through them. 

“Good afternoon, Miss Y/N,” FRIDAY greeted.

“Hey FRIDAY,” you replied glumly.

The AI had taken a bit of getting used to when you first moved in, but now talking to FRIDAY was like talking to a friend. A disembodied friend that was programmed for every possible response, but a friend nonetheless.

“Your father is downstairs in his lab if you want to say hello,” the AI quipped.

“Thanks,” you replied, setting your backpack by the stairs.

As you walked downstairs to the lab, you could smell metal burning and almost taste the metallic tang on your tongue. You figured he was tinkering with one of his suits.

Sure enough, Tony was hunched over his workbench wearing one of his old Iron Man masks. Sparks flew from the soldering tool he held in his hands. Not wanting to scare him, you stood back and waited until he took a break in his work.

“Hi Tony,” you called out after he put the tool down.

Tony removed his mask and turned around, and his face broke out into a grin when he saw you.

“Hey kiddo!” he exclaimed. He walked over and wrapped you up in a hug. The scent of metal was stuck to his shirt, and you could almost swear you smelled...

“Is that...did you accidentally burn your hair?” you asked, wrinkling your nose when he pulled away.  

He grinned sheepishly and ran his fingers through his short, spiky locks. “Please,” he scoffed, “I never do anything on accident.”

You couldn’t help but smile. Most of Tony’s greatest inventions were accidents, and you both knew it.

“I’m actually on the verge of a breakthrough,” he said, hopping up and down excitedly. He led you over to the table and proceeded to explain the engineering of his newest suit idea.

You tried to follow along, you really did, but he may as well have been speaking another language. He talked about thrusters and some new velocity vector...or was it acceleration? You were completely out of your element here, but you were always too scared to bring it up. So, you nodded your head and smiled, but it felt fake. You wished you could connect with him more about the things he was passionate about.

“So, anyway, I should be done with this soon. Maybe. How’s an hour sound for dinner?” he asked.

“Fine,” you replied. “I have a bunch of math homework, so I should probably get started on it.”

“That’s my girl! Show that math homework who’s boss!” Tony placed the mask back on his head and got to work. “Love you, kiddo,” he said, his voice echoing in the metallic mask.

You smiled weakly. “Love you too.” You walked back upstairs, grabbing your backpack as you made your way up to your room.

You crumpled yet another paper up and tossed it into the trash can. Letting out a frustrated groan, you banged your head against your desk. You had only managed to get through half of the problems, and you were pretty sure even some of those were wrong.

Checking your watch, you realized almost two hours had gone by. Tony must have lost track of time and forgotten about dinner. He tended to get like that when he was working on a new project. This was a fairly common occurrence, and thankfully, Tony stashed some freezer meals in the fridge for exactly this purpose. Throwing one last disgusted look at your homework, you went downstairs in search of some food.

After heating up some lasagna, you decided to eat your food out on the balcony. Tony had the most amazing view since his house sat right on the water. The sun was just beginning to set, and the water shone brilliantly in different hues of orange and red. Sitting out on one of the balcony chairs, you sighed.

You didn’t deserve a view like this. You didn’t deserve a life like this. Tony deserved a daughter who was smart and good at math and more like him. Instead, he got you, and you couldn’t even finish twenty stupid math problems.

Your vision became blurry as tears swam in your eyes. Your lasagna tasted sour in your mouth, and you swallowed your current bite, pushing the rest away. Pulling your knees into your chest, you started crying.

Downstairs, Tony was staring at his computer, trying to get the numbers in front of him to make sense. He scratched his head and groaned in frustration.

“Boss?” FRIDAY interrupted.

“Yeah, FRIDAY, kind of busy,” he replied.

“I can see that, boss, but I thought you’d want to know Y/N seems distressed,” FRIDAY shot back.

“Distressed? I’m going to need a bit more than that,” he said.

“No need to be rude,” FRIDAY retorted. “She’s sitting on the balcony crying.”

“You didn’t think to mention the crying thing first?!” he exclaimed. He didn’t wait for the AI to respond and rushed upstairs.

He opened the balcony door and slowly approached your chair. You looked so small curled up, and his heart broke as your shoulders shook.

“Hey Y/N,” he said, soothingly. “What’s wrong?”

You shot up in surprise, and quickly wiped away your tears. “Nothing,” you replied, shaking your head.

Tony smiled sadly and pulled another chair in front of yours. “So you’re sitting out here crying because of how gorgeous the sunset is?”

You couldn’t help but smile through your tears. “Totally,” you tried to joke.

Tony gently placed his hand on your knee. “Try again, kiddo.”

You shook your head vigorously. “I can’t,” you whispered, fearfully.

“Yes you can,” he promised. “You are completely safe here.”

You took a deep, shuddering breath. You were so scared to confess your feelings, but you weren’t sure how much longer you could keep up this charade.

“I don’t deserve this,” you finally admitted.

Tony was genuinely confused. “Deserve what?” he asked.

“This life! Everything!” you exclaimed. “You deserve a daughter who’s smart like you and likes to talk to people. I can’t even do my stupid math homework.”

You were really sobbing now, and Tony just stared at you in shock.

“Wh..what?” was all he could manage to get out.

Now that you started, you kept rambling on.

“Everyone always says I should be good at math, but I’m not. I hate numbers. I try to understand what you tell me about with your inventions, but I have no clue what any of it means. I’m trying so hard and it never feels like enough. I can’t meet these expectations, and I’m terrified you’ll see that and realize adopting me was a mistake.” You breathed heavily as you finally let go of everything that had been pent up inside you.

Tony blinked once, twice, three times. He inhaled and tried to speak, but nothing came out. He rested his hand under his chin, then moved it so it was sitting on his knee. He mentally flashed back to all the parenting books he had read and tried to remember if there was a chapter called “When Your Adopted Daughter Freaks Out Crying on Your Balcony”. Nope. He got nothing. Looks like he was flying blind on this one.

“Okay, um, can we start with one problem at a time?” he finally asked. Without waiting for your response, he continued. “What’s wrong with your math homework?”

“I’m stupid when it comes to math. I spend hours on my homework and still get it wrong,” you sniffled.

“Let me stop you right there,” Tony said, putting up a hand. “You are not stupid. At all. You read more books than I ever have, and your writing is top-notch. Didn’t you just get a perfect score on your paper about Emily Austin-”

“Dickinson,” you interrupted.

“Same thing,” he replied. “A perfect score is amazing! We can work on the math thing. I’ll hire a tutor if that’ll help.”

“Really?” you asked.

“Of course!” he replied. “Why didn’t you say anything before?”

“I was embarrassed,” you said, your face turning red. “You’re so good at that stuff, and I’m not.”

“Honey, do you know how many times I’ve failed in my life? How many times I’ve screwed up? Being bad at math isn’t the worst thing you could do.” He paused. “And I tell you about my inventions because I like sharing what I’m doing with you. Well, and partially to brag,” he admitted. “I mean, I do make some pretty neat stuff.”

That comment earned a giggle from you. It was well-known that Tony’s ego could fill the entire state of New York if left unchecked. Tony smiled and kissed your forehead.

“But most importantly, I like spending the time with you. I don’t really care what we talk about.”

“Okay,” you replied.

“Now let’s talk about the other thing,” he said, gently, tilting your chin so you were looking into his eyes.

“You are the last thing from a mistake. I knew the second I saw you that you were special, and I wanted you in my life. I still believe that with every fibre of my being. You are mine, and I am so proud of you and of everything that you do. If anything, I’m the one that doesn’t deserve you. You’re a pretty awesome kid, and I wonder how the hell I got so lucky every single day. You will always exceed every expectation for me.” He looked so sincere, and you knew he meant every word.

“Besides,” he added, “you’re stuck with me, kiddo. Sorry. We signed the papers and everything.” He shrugged his shoulders and grinned cheekily. You couldn’t help the giggle that escaped your body, and you shoved him on the shoulder.

“Do you always turn everything into a joke?” you asked, shaking your head.

“Yup. Just one of my many adorable character flaws.” He laughed along with you and then pulled you out of your chair. He wrapped you into a hug, and you allowed yourself to relax into his embrace.

“I love you so much, Y/N,” he said, kissing the top of your head. “Don’t ever forget that.” He pulled back a bit and looked at you. “And please, kid, for the love of God, tell me when this stuff is bothering you.”

“I will,” you promised. You took a deep breath and replied, “I love you too, Dad.”

Tony Stark had been called many names in his lifetime (some good, but most bad), but hearing you call him “Dad” for the first time was by far the best. He would remember every detail of this moment for years to come. The sunset over the water, the look in your eyes, all of it. He tried to play it cool and failed, choking back the tears that threatened to spill out of his eyes.

He knew right then and there that he was, by far, the luckiest man alive.


End file.
